The Coven
by sprgrl4
Summary: Draco Malfoy is set to be marked as a Death Eater on his sixteenth birthday. He wants nothing to do with Voldemort and his followers; but the only way to protect himself from the dark mark, is to join a coven. But not just any coven; Harry Potter's Coven.
1. Chapter 1

Draco was standing outside his father's study, waiting to be called in. His father and the Dark Lord were in there now, conferring on who knows what; all Draco knew was that they had plans for him. He knew that the time would come where his father expected him to join the Dark Lord's side. He just didn't think it would be this soon. It was yule break in his fifth year; surely they weren't planning on starting him this young. He was only 15.

"Draco, come." Lucius called from inside the study.

Draco walked inside his father's study. The Dark Lord was sitting behind his father's desk, with Lucius standing behind him. Draco took a seat in one of the straight back chairs that he hated; they always reminded him of being a child and being in trouble. He always had to sit in these chairs whenever he did something wrong.

"Draco, your father has decided that it is time for you to join our ranks. I however have some doubts as to your worthiness. So I am going to give you a task, if you pass you will receive the mark and join your father. If you fail, well let's just say you won't have parents anymore. Your task is to befriend Harry Potter, I want him to trust you so that when the time comes you can give him a message, and he will believe it."

"What message am I supposed to give him?" Draco asked, not liking where this was going; although if he befriended Harry, he might be able to get him to listen to his side of the story. Draco didn't want to be on the wrong side of the war, and he believed that the side his father chose was the wrong side; which is why he had plans of his own.

"Potter and I share a link, I can see some images from his mind, and he can see into mine when I let him in. I'm going to use this to my advantage. I will send him one memory of attacking Weasley in the Department of Mysteries, Potter will rush to Dumbledore of course being the hero that he is. And I will let them save him. Then I will send him a second one, of Nagini attacking another member of that blasted order. Someone close to him, Black perhaps, and Potter will of course believe that this vision is real. Your task is to make sure that he believes both visions, so that I can lure him into the DoM to retrieve a prophecy for me."

Which prophecy would that be my lord?" Draco asked wanting to get as much information from him as he could.

"That is information that you do not need." Voldemort said dismissing the young Malfoy.

Draco stood up and bowed, then took his leave. He needed to talk to Neville; he was the only one who could help him now.

Draco went straight to his room and pulled out the enchanted coins that he and Neville used to communicate with each other. He tapped his wand on the coin and said **_the usual 3pm today _**It only took a few minutes to receive a response **_yes_** now all he had to do was wait.

Neville was pacing back and forth wondering why Draco had contacted him. Nobody knew they were friends; they had specific rules in place to insure that no one would find out, and one of them was no contact during winter break. There was too much family around on both sides that it would be more likely for someone to notice them missing. He had told his Gran that he wanted to go check the greenhouses; to be sure everything was in order. He went to the farthest greenhouse and spent some time checking the plants there, before heading off to their meeting place.

The Longbottoms and the Malfoys estates were right next to each other, even though they were both fairly large, there was a stream that passed through the town on one side was the Malfoy estate and the other was the Longbottom's. Draco and Neville grew up together both being from pure blooded families and were best of friends, but when it came time to enter Hogwarts they had to pretend to be enemies. It wouldn't do to have a Gryffindor and a Slytherin being friends. It was the only way they could think of to keep Draco safe from his evil father. So they pretended to hate each other at school while secretly protecting each other. Neville could only imagine what Lucius wanted Draco to do next. He had a feeling that he wanted Draco to take the mark and become a Death Eater.

Neville had made a promise to Draco, that he would protect him and that he wouldn't let anything happen to him; even if it meant revealing their friendship to Harry and getting his help. Draco wouldn't like it but tough luck; it was the only thing he could think of right now.

Their meeting place was a little shack on the edge of the river, on the outside it looked like an abandoned fishing shack. They had found it one day when they were out exploring the forest and decided to make it their official meeting place. After their first year at Hogwarts they had placed some wards around it so that you wouldn't notice it was there. The inside was made into a sort of common room, there was a table and two couches facing a fire place. It wasn't much but it was theirs.

Neville felt the wards alerting him that Draco was here. "Hey Draco is everything alright?" he asked as soon as the blond came inside.

Draco sighed, "Hey Nev, thanks for meeting me on such short notice. I just came from a meeting with my father and Voldemort. They want me to take the mark, and I have already been given a task that I must complete. He threatened to kill my family if I don't go through with this." He sat down on one of the couches, and placed his head in his hands.

Neville didn't know what to say, how do you comfort someone after their family was threatened? "We will figure something out Draco; I might have an idea." he said hoping that Draco was willing to listen to his plan about bringing Harry into this.

"What was the task you were given?" Neville asked

"He wants me to befriend Harry, to gain his trust, and then when he plants a fake vision into Harry's head to convince harry that it is real. He said that he is going to do a test run, where he will attack someone Harry cares about and let Harry save them so when he plants the second one Harry will believe it's real and come running." Draco sighed, thinking of just not doing anything, and letting Voldemort have his family. He could care less what happens to his father, but he couldn't leave his mother there. He wished there was a way to take her away from his father. Lucius Malfoy was an evil bastard, he enjoyed beating his wife and son, he said it would build their character; make them stronger. He forced himself on mother every night, trying to make another child. What he didn't know was that Narcissa Malfoy took a contraceptive potion that prevented her from ever having another child again. She didn't want to put another child through what Draco had to endure.

"Well what's this genius idea of yours Nev?" Draco asked hoping there was a way out of this for both him and his mother.

"Well, the last few months I've been helping Hermione with researching the Death Eaters, trying to figure out how they are marked and what rituals they use. Turns out that they are just a Coven who practices the dark arts, the mark is to show which coven they belong to." Neville sat down next to Draco turning towards him, hoping he would listen to his whole idea. "Once you join a coven, and are marked you can't join any others…"

"yes," Draco interrupted "but you can't join a coven until you are of age, and I won't be of age in time!" Draco shouted. He was getting frustrated, this conversation was going nowhere.

"not necessarily, that is only true if the coven's charter states that no one under age can join. What I found out is that if there was a witch or wizard powerful enough, I'm talking Magus level, then they would be able to create their own coven, which includes their own charter, where they can allow underage witches and wizards join." Neville hoped his message was getting across to Draco.

"Do you know someone with that amount of power Nev? Cause I sure don't" Draco sneered at his best mate.

"I do. Harry Potter." Neville state matter of factley.

Draco gaped at him, "are you saying that Potter is a Magus level wizard?"

"Yes, and he doesn't like anyone knowing about it so don't go spreading it around." Neville said.

Draco looked at Neville for a few minutes, "so let me get this straight…you are suggesting that Potter starts his own Coven? And that I join it? He would never trust me Nev." He sighed, it was a good idea, Draco just didn't think that it would work; he spent his whole time at Hogwarts fighting with Potter and causing him so much trouble. There was no way Potter would trust him enough to let him join.

"You don't know that Draco, I've lived with him for the past four and a half years, all we need to do is explain to him your situation, and that we have been friends this whole time. That you being a git was just a cover for your protection." Neville held his breath, he could see Draco thinking about it, he just hoped that Harry would let him explain everything, and how this could benefit him in the end.

"Fine," Draco stated "I will go ahead with this plan, but before we talk to Potter we need to make sure we have all the information correct, so we can answer any questions he has."

"Fair enough." Neville was excited; he knew this was the best option for them.

"Let's spend the rest of the holiday researching, and then we will talk to potter on the first day back at Hogwarts." Draco hoped this wouldn't end up blowing up in their faces. But he had to admit it was a good idea; if he was able to join Potter's coven, he wouldn't have to worry about Father or about Voldemort, and he could ask for refuge for his mother.

With a plan in place they both left to go back to their respective homes to start researching Covens. Draco knew that the family library would have everything he needed. He just had to make sure he wasn't caught.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey guys" Neville said as he sat down across from his friends on the Hogwarts Express.

"Hey Nev" Harry glanced up from _the daily prophe_t he was reading, "so, is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"Your going to claim your title during the first Hogsmede weekend?" Harry clarified.

Neville sighed "I was supposed to claim it on my 14th birthday but Gran thought it would be better if I waited, to be sure that my magic was mature enough to handle the settling of my family magic."

He wasn't sure how the people of the daily prophet had found out about that, but he could deal with them when he had power and money to push around.

"Actually Harry I wanted to talk to you about that" Neville looked at Harry wondering how he would react.

"Sure, Nev what do you need"

He took a deep breath, Neville was pretty sure this was going to be a shock to Harry, who most likely had no idea who he was in the wizarding world. "I'm supposed to have two witnesses when I claim my title, they have to be peers of the realm, and close to the same age as I am."

"What does that have to do with me?"

Neville was right, Harry didn't know. "I want you to be one of the witnesses." Neville stated watching to see his reaction.

"I'm not a peer of the realm Nev, I don't have a title or anything that goes with it." Harry wasn't sure what was going on, Nev was being weird. He had to admit that it would be kind of amazing to have a title, to be able to be an adult at just 14. He glanced at Ron and Hermione, they both seemed just as confused as he did.

"you must have gone barmy, Nev" Ron said, "Harry doesn't have a title, he never did"

He wasn't all that shocked really, he grew up learning about being the head of the family and everything that entails. The Weasely family wasn't part of the upper class. "Harry, you are the last scion of the House of Potter, and once you have claimed your title, you will be the Duke of Gryffindor." Neville watched as Harry's eyes grew wider and wider, first with shock, then anger, then calculation. He could only wonder what Harry was thinking. "Once you've claimed your title, you will have access to all the Potter vaults, as well as Potter Manor, and any other homes that were left to you." He had to make Harry understand that he could become an adult, and he knew how much he hated living with those muggles. Harry claiming his title was one of the most important pieces of the plan he and Draco had come up with.

"Yes"

"What?" Nev was confused by the suddenness.

"Yes, I will be your witness, on one condition. That your mine." Harry had a lot to think over, but he knew that he needed to claim his title as soon as possible, because someone went to a lot of trouble trying to keep it from him. A sudden thought struck Harry, "who is your second witness?"

Neville knew Harry wouldn't like this; Draco was his second witness, as there was only the three of them that had any claim to a title in Hogwarts. "There is only one other that is our age, I have already asked him, and he has agreed to be my witness, but you will need to ask him."

"Who?"

"Draco Malfoy."

Harry just stared at Nev, but Neville hated Draco, why would he go to him unless there was another reason why? He couldn't think of anything off the top of his head. He realized he was going to have to ask Malfoy a favor, but he wanted this, he wanted to be free of all the limitations being underage put on him, and if he had to ask Malfoy a favor, he would do it. He took a deep breath, "well, what are we waiting for let's go ask him."

Draco was sitting with his friends on the train. "So, did you guys have a good Yule break?" he got a murmur of different answers, yes, no, maybe.

"And you Draco?" Pansy asked, "how was your Holliday?"

Draco stood up and warded the door, so no one could hear. Everyone sat up knowing that he was going to tell them something they didn't like. "I met with Voldemort" He watched as everyone flinched at the use of his name. He refused to be afraid of some crazy maniac. "My dad basically gave me over to him. I was given a task, if I pass I will receive the mark this summer, if I fail, he threatened to kill my family." Blaise, Pansy, and Daphne, all stared at him in shock.

"But you're only 15!" shouted Blaise, angery that his friend was going to be put through something completely terrifying.

"I…" startled Draco looked up as there was a knock on the door of their compartment.

Harry and his entourage were standing there. Draco stood and took down the privacy wards. He put his Lucius mask on "What do you want Potter?" he sneered, wondering what on earth Harry was doing here.

"umm…" Harry was trying hard not to say something snide back; thinking of his title calmed him down.

"Cat got your tongue, Potter?"

Harry was glad that Neville coached him before they came over, otherwise he would look like an idiot.

" As the last scion of the Potter line, I have come to formally ask for your participation as my witness to the claiming of my title." Harry rushed out as fast as he could.

Draco stared at him, shocked. He resisted the urge to look at Nev, this was a lot faster than he anticipated, he thought it would take a few days to get Harry used to the idea of claiming a title.

"I know that you already have permission to leave for Neville's claiming" Harry continued "so I was thinking that we could do mine at the same time."

Draco thought that would be the best way to handle it, but they would have to be careful about who they told; because someone didn't want Harry to know about his title, let alone claim it.

"I accept" Draco said "as scion Malfoy, to witness the claiming of Scion Harry Potter." Draco hoped this would be the start of them putting their animosity behind them, because he needed Potter otherwise his life was forfeit.


End file.
